Rell’s Review – Round 11

We went to Sturt knowing the importance of the game and the challenge awaiting us.  We started in blistering form and kicked 2 early goals.  We were wasteful  in front of goals scoring 5 behinds and then allowed the oppo to kick three soft goals off our turnover when we had dominated the inside 50 count by double figures.

Q2 we steadied and kicked 1.1 whilst holding them scoreless.  Q3 was a different story we kicked the first with impressive coast to coast ball movement but from them we were under pressure for the remainder of the quarter.   Sturt kicked into gear, they were physical and ran in waves creating scoring opportunities off pressure.  They kicked 4.4 and went in leading at the three-quarter time break.

Q4 was a monumental struggle and off the back of our pressure oppo only managed 4 points and we kicked 2.2 to draw the match.  The same outcome as R1 this year and ironically Klaudia O’Neill kicked the levelling point from the same end, same angle and we end up with the same result.  It was an empty feeling again at the end of the game.  The positives far outweigh the draw and we take from the game that our best football is very very good and if we can switch on and prevent teams scoring and keep scoring out way we will be very hard to beat.

We are well and truly at the pointy end with 3 games of the minor rounds remaining. The top 4 is open for the top 5 teams.We now head to the final Energised Round and play our old foe in South which will be such a test and exactly what we need. The group is excited to face this challenge head on.

Narelle Smith – SANFLW Senior Coach